One thing you should NEVER forget if you want to sound entertaining in English

A lot of students don’t like using the past perfect tense, because it is complicated and they don’t know when to use it. However, if you want to make your story sound more interesting, it is definitely something you should use. Usually when we tell a story, we talk about events in the order that…

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6 adverbs to make you sound more professional, including 2 you are definitely NOT using!

I had an email only yesterday about the use of the word ‘thus’.  So I thought I would write a post about adverbs in general, and how they are a great tool to make yourself sound more professional in English.  Here is my guide to the 6 most professional-sounding adverbs! If you write a lot…

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2 Uses for Continuous Tenses that English learners ALWAYS forget!

Many learners of English know that the continuous tense are used to talk about something which is continuing for some length of time.  Check out my diagram about when to use present simple and when to use present continuous here. Here are 2 uses for continuous tenses which many learners of English are unaware of: 1.…

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The mystery of ‘who’ and ‘whom’… What is whom and when do I use it? The answer is surprisingly easy!

If you are confused with when you should use ‘who’ and when you should use ‘whom’, then you are not alone!  You will be happy to know that ‘whom’ is only really used today in formal written English. Which means that when you are speaking English, or even writing in normal registers of English, you can…

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Oh là là, The 7 most useful advanced English phrases which come from French!

Ever since the Norman conquest of 1066, when French armies invaded England, the English language has been very strongly influenced by French.  This influence is still very strong today, so strong in fact, that there are quite a few words in the English language which have been taken directly from French.  Here are 7 of…

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The bit they don’t teach you about sentences with ‘wish’

Here are some classic sentences with wish: ‘I wish I was rich’ ‘I wish I had taken the job offer’ ‘I wish I had a better car’ We can also add a second part to these wish sentences, to give more information.  There are two ways you can do this: 1. Saying why you wish…

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The surprisingly easy world of ‘shall’. Here’s the only time you really need to use it!

‘Shall’ is another word in English which is a mystery to English learners.  Usually when you try to look up shall in a dictionary you will find many meanings, which can be very confusing.  Most of the meanings you find in the dictionary are so uncommon that you would never use them, and never really…

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This special tool with infinitives can improve your English

All English learners know about present, future and past tenses, but not many learners are aware that you can actually put infinitives into the past as well! The 2 things you are probably wondering are how and why, I’m going to answer both of these questions for you, starting with why. Why Take a look…

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2 extremely useful conversational phrases with ‘how’ that you never noticed English speakers say..

Here is my guide to my two favourite English phrases with ‘how’, which you may have missed when listening to English speakers.. How come How come is usually used in spoken English, and it is a really useful phrase meaning the same as why..? I prefer using this to why in some situations.  The problem with…

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The underestimated world of conjunctions – Welcome to a really useful word group to make you sound professional…

When looking to sound more professional in English, there is a small group of words which do this so well.  Welcome to the underestimated world of the conjunctions.  Here is my guide to some conjunctions you may be missing which will make you sound very professional, I promise! Once Once has many different meanings, but…

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